The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hosts a Second Life site to "promote scientific discussion regarding the climate and allows visitors to experience parts of the environment they would not normally have access to in the real world".
I frequently use the NOAA website in summer to check ocean temperature, tide charts and wave swells so was excited to see the NOAA Second Life site listed in the showcase hotspots. The site has been around since April of 2006 and is a non-profit learning center that seemed to have ~5 visitors at any given moment actually trying to play in the exhibits. Some of the exhibits were more useful than others. For example, you could experience a tsunami and go see the undersea earthquake causing a giant wave. Here are pictures of me in a "Canadian Yacht" as the simulation begins and as the wave is about to crush me.
Another useful feature was the real-time weather map of the United States. You enter a warehouse that has a map of the US on the floor and rain clouds above the places it is raining. Today, the northeast was getting lots of precipitation while Texas was nice and sunny.
Some of the less interesting parts of the site are riding a weather balloon off to space, watching a glacier melt, exploring the ocean floor, and trying to use the earth simulator sphere that is very complicated. I asked at least one visitor each day for the last week about these items and no one could get the sphere to operate and no one was able to ride the weather plane into a hurricane.
The website seemed very complicated if you didn't know what to expect or didn't have someone to guide you. I never saw anyone from NOAA on the site (probably cause they do it at work from 9-5) but luckily they put lots of links to YouTube videos that explained some of the island. In general, the people who frequented the site were friendly and wanted to learn more about NOAA and partake in the virtual recreation of climatic phenomenon. Dallas Beorn complimented me on my virtual Segway and he gave me a yacht with Canadian flags. They all seemed like Second Life newbies like myself since they wondered around most of the time and didn't huddle together with other like in most popular site. Unfortunately, I doubt they would return to the site anytime soon since they had exhausted the entertainment value.
I frequently use the NOAA website in summer to check ocean temperature, tide charts and wave swells so was excited to see the NOAA Second Life site listed in the showcase hotspots. The site has been around since April of 2006 and is a non-profit learning center that seemed to have ~5 visitors at any given moment actually trying to play in the exhibits. Some of the exhibits were more useful than others. For example, you could experience a tsunami and go see the undersea earthquake causing a giant wave. Here are pictures of me in a "Canadian Yacht" as the simulation begins and as the wave is about to crush me.
Another useful feature was the real-time weather map of the United States. You enter a warehouse that has a map of the US on the floor and rain clouds above the places it is raining. Today, the northeast was getting lots of precipitation while Texas was nice and sunny.
Some of the less interesting parts of the site are riding a weather balloon off to space, watching a glacier melt, exploring the ocean floor, and trying to use the earth simulator sphere that is very complicated. I asked at least one visitor each day for the last week about these items and no one could get the sphere to operate and no one was able to ride the weather plane into a hurricane.
The website seemed very complicated if you didn't know what to expect or didn't have someone to guide you. I never saw anyone from NOAA on the site (probably cause they do it at work from 9-5) but luckily they put lots of links to YouTube videos that explained some of the island. In general, the people who frequented the site were friendly and wanted to learn more about NOAA and partake in the virtual recreation of climatic phenomenon. Dallas Beorn complimented me on my virtual Segway and he gave me a yacht with Canadian flags. They all seemed like Second Life newbies like myself since they wondered around most of the time and didn't huddle together with other like in most popular site. Unfortunately, I doubt they would return to the site anytime soon since they had exhausted the entertainment value.
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